Inevitable
by dicaeopolis
Summary: It's an angry, chaotic love they have, but it's healthy. Sharkbait.


**a/n: loudly fills the void that is sharkbait yuri**

They'll never stop fighting, the two of them, and Rin thinks she doesn't mind even as she storms out of Haruka's house and slams the door for the third time that week. At least it's something, anything, from the apathetic bitch. Sure, Haruka smiles for Makoto sometimes, hugged Nagisa once, has some weird connection with Rei that Rin can't understand at all. There are a lot of things she doesn't understand about Haruka, but she knows for damn sure that she's the only one Haruka raises her voice for, the only one who can bring an angry flush to Haruka's cheeks.

Rin is incapable of controlling her emotions. They fly off her and fizzle out like sparks – bright, but transient. She can't deny that sometimes she goads Haruka into anger, for the pleasure of seeing Haruka reduced, however briefly, to Rin's level.

Or would raised be a better word?

At any rate, she takes fierce pride in her unique ability. Nobody else can arouse Haruka's passion. Nobody else ever will.

Rin's feet take her down the cobblestone path almost without her knowledge. She's still wearing sneakers and spandex from her earlier run, and she reaches for her iPod before realizing with a grimace that she left it at her girlfriend's house. She starts to run anyway, along the high road hewn into the side of the mountain. Her sneakers slap a comforting, familiar rhythm against the pavement, and the salty breeze off the ocean keeps her cool even as her breathing begins to rag.

Oh, but Haruka gets off on it, doesn't she, enigma that she is. She sits up and pays attention when Rin is involved, she gets out of the bath and out of the house and out of her little self-created snowglobe. It's an angry, chaotic love that they have, but it's healthy.

Rin turns a corner and suddenly she's on Main Street – living at Samezuka, she's forgotten how the odd little town can creep up on you. She keeps running anyway, not quite sure where she's going. There's a skeevy-looking gas station, a tiny streetcorner ice cream parlor, an old man sitting on a bench. His eyes are weary and his face is scarred, but it's the ramrod straightness of his back that tells Rin that he's a veteran. Beside him, a German Shepard whose muzzle is completely white sits as straight as its master.

It is overcast and cool, but the air isn't holding its breath in anticipation of rain – perfect weather for running. Before Rin knows it, she's at her mother's house. Mrs. Matsuoka won't be back from work yet, but Gou's bike is in the driveway.

Rin slows to a walk as she turns in the gate, wiping sweat from her brow that she hadn't noticed beading there. The key is under the mat like always, and Rin barks a sharp retort to her brother's amused concern over the back of the sofa as she heads for the stairs. There's no point in pretending that nothing is wrong. He knows that she had been planning to stay at Haruka's the entire weekend.

She strips down in her room and stands in the shower for a long time, letting the water pound against her skin and wash the sweat away.

Apathetic? Haruka is anything but. She doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve like Rin does, but in the tightness of her face when Rin makes her angry, in the way her eyes find Rin in a crowd, in the near-ghostlike trail of her fingers across the back of Rin's hand as she walks by. Nagisa is pretty good at seeing these things, as little as she might let on. Makoto is better. Rei might figure it out once she gets over her senpai-worship complex.

Rin? Well…she's getting there.

She reluctantly steps out of the steamy shower, curls her toes in the bath mat. Her thoughts are sorted. She wraps herself in her towel and pads back into her room. Nothing that has happened today has been surprising. What she's about to do is equally inevitable.

By the time she gets to Haruka's house, it's fully dark. The stars are bright overhead, and the full moon has lit her path nearly the entire way. She lets herself in. A light is shining into the hallway from the dining room.

She takes off her shoes and walks to the dining room. Haruka is sitting at the table in her nightgown, reading by the light of a small lamp. It throws her face into dramatic shadow. Haruka is as tall as Rin, if more slender, but in the soft golden glow, she looks very small.

Rin sits at the table across from her. Haruka does not look up, but her eyes are not moving as she stares at the page.

"You're late."

"Did you worry?" Rin retorts sarcastically, and regrets it immediately.

"No," Haruka says. She gets up, switches off the lamp. The room is plunged into darkness.

Rin's eyes adjust, and Haruka is gone. The bedsprings creak in the other room, and Rin snorts to herself. Not worried, my ass.

She follows her girlfriend anyway, and slides underneath the covers. Haruka is facing the wall, but shifts infinitesimally towards her, and Rin can't stifle a small smile. She's like a furnace, she knows, and Haruka is always cold.

Haruka hasn't left, which is a good sign, so Rin scoots closer and buries her face in Haruka's hair, breathing in the clean scent. Haruka is stiff for a moment, but finally sighs and turns over to face Rin.

Their legs tangle together, and Haruka lifts a hand to trace slow lines across Rin's features – a surprisingly tender gesture. And it is Haruka who finally entangles her hand in Rin's hair and draws her down to join their lips.

They kiss, slow and sweet, several times.

"I'll always come back, you know," Rin mumbles finally, cheeks hot at the admission even in the dark.

Haruka's eyes are closed, but Rin sees her lips move and hears the almost inaudible.

"I know."


End file.
